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From "Infrared" To "The Story Of Adidon": The Who's Who Of Drake And Pusha T's Feud

Summer 2018 has given us the rap beef surely no of us expected: Drake versus Pusha T. On the release of his latest albumDaytona, the latter called out the former on “Infrared,” which then led to Drake responding on “Duppy Freestyle.” Now, we’ve received Push’s response to the track — “The Story of Adidon” — and, well, it’s unflinchingly brutal. The pair has had a longstanding feud for some time but this is surely the most contentious it’s ever been. In this rap beef, a number of names have been referenced. Some are pretty well known; others, more obscure. But in understanding their context in all of this makes their significance to this feud that much more important.

The People You Probably Don’t Know

Adonis

Drake’s alleged secret baby with Sophie Brussaux, who is referenced on “The Story of Adidon.” While rapping about Brussaux, Push also speaks on Adonis, saying:

“A baby’s involved, it’s deeper than rap / We talkin’ character, let me keep with the facts / You are hiding a child, let that boy come home / Deadbeat mothafucka, playin’ border patrol, ooh / Adonis is your son / And he deserves more than an Adidas press run, that’s real / Love that baby, respect that girl / Forget she’s a pornstar, let her be your world, yuugh!”

This is arguably the most relentless of Push’s lines in this track, as he not only alludes to the child and Brussaux living in France but the rumor that Drake is joining Adidas in June this year and is naming the forthcoming apparel line “AdiDon” after the child.

“Even the baby thing is a little crazy? Who rolls out their child with a sweatsuit,” Push said on The Breakfast Club before elaborating further:

“The Adidas situtation is this: [Drake’s] new line is allegedly called AdiDon which is named after Adonis, his son. But we couldn’t know about your child until you start selling sweatsuits and sneakers?”

The lyrics follow in line with Push calling out Drake’s father in the same song, with Push implying that the Scorpion rapper is only doing what his father did to him through Adonis.

Source: Sophie Brussaux Instagram

Sophie

Sophie Brussaux is Drake’s alleged baby mother, who is referenced on “The Story of Adidon.” Brussaux is referenced because of Drake’s name-dropping Virginia Williams, with Push rapping:

“Since you name-dropped my fiancée / Let ’em know who you chose as your Beyoncé / Sophie knows better, ask your baby mother / Cleaned her up for IG, but the stench is on her.”

An artist and former adult film star, Brussaux’s pregnancy was first reported in May of last year when TMZ claimed that Drake and Brussaux weren’t on good terms. The tabloid news website also claimed that the pair had the following text exchange in regards to the pregnancy:

Drake: I want you to have an abortion.

Brussaux: I can’t kill my baby simply to indulge you sorry.

Drake: Indulge me? F**k you.

Brussaux: What?

Drake: You do know what you’re doing you think you’re going to get money.

Representatives for Drake said that Brussaux “has a very questionable background” and “has admitted to having multiple relationships.” However, the rep also said that “If it is in fact Drake’s child, which he does not believe, he would do the right thing by the child.”

Brussaux apparently gave birth to a son on October 24 of the same year in France. Since the release of “The Story of Adonis,” Brussaux’s Instagram account has been made private, as noted by Vulture.

Source: Virginia Williams Instagram

Virginia Williams

Push’s fiancée and longtime girlfriend, Virginia Williams is referenced in “Duppy Freestyle,” when Drake says: “I told you keep playin’ with my name and I’ma let it ring on you / Like Virginia Williams.”

Ultimately, it was this line that made Push respond the way he did on “The Story of Adidon.”

“All bets are off because of that” the rapper said during a phone interview with The Breakfast Club.

Prior to making her Instagram account private, Williams would often post pictures of herself alongside Push. She even revealed the two’s engagement to each other on the social media platform in July of last year.

In a since-deleted Instagram post, Push warned any other rappers considering mentioning Williams on a track: “Virginia Williams shan’t ever be mentioned in song by ANYONE aside from me.”

Source: YouTube

Denim Tears

Drake references Denim Tears, real name Tremaine Emory, on “Duppy Freestyle,” when he says: “Don’t know why the fuck you niggas listen to Denim or Steve.” The founder of fashion brand No Vacancy Inn, Emory has worked with the likes of A$AP Rocky, A$AP Mob, and Stussy as a creative consultant. Recently, he’s been seen alongside Kanye West, and his Twitter has been an integral part of the theory that West’s recent political controversies are nothing but performance art.

Following the release of “Duppy Freestyle,” a number of people took to an Instagram post of Push’s Daytona album on Emory’s account and commented on the post with line referencing him.

A post shared by Tremaine Emory (@denimtears) on May 24, 2018 at 8:13pm PDT

Source: YouTube

Steven Victor

Drake references Steven Victor on “Duppy Freestyle” when he says: “Don’t know why the fuck you niggas listen to Denim or Steve.” Victor is the Executive Vice President of Universal Music Group and Head of A&R at Def Jam. He’s also a close friend of Push’s as well as his manager. Victor was also referenced in Drake’s invoice directed to G.O.O.D Music and Def Jam. In the invoice, Drake requests $100,000 for “promotional assistance and career-reviving.”

The People You Probably Do Know Even Though You Think You Don’t

Source: YouTube

Dennis Graham

Drake’s father, Dennis Graham is referenced on “The Story of Adidon.” Push dedicates a number of lines to Graham throughout the track, most notably the following:

“Dennis Graham stay off the gram, bitch, I’m on one / You mention wedding ring like it’s a bad thing / Your father walked away at five, hell of a dad thing / Marriage is somethin’ that Sandi never had, Drake / How you a winner, but she keep comin’ in last place? / Monkey-suit Dennis, you parade him / A Steve Harvey-suit nigga made him.”

The first line is in reference to Graham’s latest Instagram post, which is a picture of “Duppy Freestyle” with the following caption: “My advice to the majority of all the haters = IF YOU DON’T WANT THAT HEAT ON YOUR ASS = DON’T FUCK WITH HIM.”

From there, Push flips Drake’s referencing of Virginia Williams to an attack on his parent’s relationship as well as accuses him of parading his father around as a prop.

Drake has spoken about his parent’s marital issues as well as his relationship to both throughout his career.

Source: MTV

Sandi Graham

Drake’s mother, Sandi Graham, is referenced on “The Story of Adidon,” when Push says: “Marriage is somethin’ that Sandi never had, Drake / How you a winner, but she keep comin’ in last place?”

Drake’s parents divorced when he was five-years-old, with his mother taking care of him throughout his childhood and adolescence. This is why the Views rapper has dedicated a number of lyrics, songs, and social media posts to her.

“My mother is an incredible woman…I talk about her a lot on this album [Nothing Was The Same, released Sept. 24],” Drake previously said in an interview with E! Online. “She’s brought me to this point single-handedly…She’s the most important person in my life.”

Push’s lyrics hit hard especially when taking into account certain lyrics Drake has offered on his parent’s relationship, such as this one from Nothing Was The Same‘s “From Time”: “My mother is 66 and her favorite line to hit me with is
Who the fuck wants to be 70 and alone?”

Source: YouTube

Quentin Miller

An Atlanta rapper who allegedly ghostwrote a number of songs on Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late mixtape from 2015. Although Miller has denied ghostwriting lyrics for Drake, the allegations have followed the pair since 2015 and have resurfaced yet again thanks to Push’s “Infrared.”

“It was written like Nas but it came from Quentin,” Push says in the song’s opening lines.

Drake responded to the reference in “Duppy Freestyle,” rapping:

“And as for Q, man, I changed his life a couple times / Nigga was at Kroger workin’ double time / Y’all actin’ like he made the boy when I was tryna help the guy.”

Initially, Miller offered a small response to his inclusion on the track, taking to Twitter to clarify that he was working at supermarket Publix and not Kroger and later releasing a song addressing both Drake and Push titled “Destiny.”

“I don’t even want the crown, I’m just doing me,” Miller raps. “I’m more than just a prop, you know? Or a pawn. I’m a person too, you know? I didn’t ask for none of this.”

Unfortunately, the track was released the same night as Push’s “The Story of Adidon.” However, during an interview with The Breakfast Club following the song’s release, Push did say he regretted bringing Miller into the feud on “Infrared.”

Source: Screengrab via the New York Times

Virgil Abloh

Drake references Virgil Abloh on “Duppy Freestyle: when he says:

“I could never have a Virgil in my circle and hold him back ’cause he makes me nervous / I wanna see my brothers flourish to their higher purpose.”

The founder of streetwear brand Off White and, most recently, the head menswear designer at Louis Vuitton, Abloh was previously the head of Kanye West’s creative brand DONDA. Drake’s line is in reference to West’s interviews with Axel Vervoordt and Charlamagne Tha God, where the rapper offered vague but surely non-congratulatory responses to Abloh becoming the head menswear designer.

“It’s not bad or good, it’s my creative collaborator being the head of Louis Vuitton,” Kanye said in his interview with Vervoordt. “Because [Abloh and I] have been fighting to make apparel at a certain price that still has the same credibility and desirability as something at a higher price…But when they say he was my creative director, that’s incorrect. He was a creative collaborator.”

West expounded further during his interview with Charlamagne, telling the radio personality that Abloh’s hiring came shortly after West learned that Louis Vuitton had passed on a collaborative deal with his Yeezy brand.

The People You Definitely Know

Source: Screengrab via BBC Radio 1/YouTube

Kanye West

Referenced by Drake in his song “Duppy Freestyle,” in which the “Nice For What” rapper calls out the G.O.O.D Music boss for using numerous writers on his tracks — including Drake himself.

Source: YouTube

Birdman

The rapper and CEO who is referenced on “Infrared,” where Push raps: “Oh, now it’s okay to kill Baby / Niggas looked at me crazy like I really killed a baby.”

Push has offered criticisms on Birdman in the past in regards to the latter’s handling of Lil Wayne. In 2014, Wayne took to Twitter to say he wanted to leave Cash Money Records because Birdman didn’t let him release Tha Carter V. The rapper also claimed the label owes him $51 million. Since then, the relationship between Wayne and Birdman has been contentious.

Push’s lyrics allude to him calling out Birdman for his mistreatment of Wayne and how people criticized him for doing so.

“I was actually speaking about how when we were going through that issue how everybody was like ‘Why you saying this?’ Then Ross had a situation where he spoke on it,” Push said on the lyrics in a recent interview with Hot 97.

Source: Twitter

Lil Wayne

The rapper who is referenced on “Infrared,” where Push raps:

“Salute Ross ’cause the message was pure / He see what I see when you see Wayne on tour
Flash without the fire / Another multi-platinum rapper trapped and can’t retire.”

Although Push and Wayne have had their own feud throughout their careers, the former doesn’t seem to really reignite it with these lines, using it to make a criticism on Birdman and his controlling of Wayne instead.

Source: YouTube

No Malice

Push’s brother and formerly one-half of the rap duo Clipse — then known as Malice — No Malice is referenced on “Duppy Freestyle,” when Drake says:

“Your brother said, it was your cousin then him, then you / So, you don’t rap what you did, you just rap what you knew / Don’t be ashamed, it’s plenty niggas that do what you do / There’s no malice in your heart, you’re an approachable dude.”

The line was in reference to an interview Malice did last year, where he explained how both he and Push got into selling drugs. Both got their start through their cousins but Push began selling after Malice was enlisted in the army. Malice then discussed the pair’s reasons for hustling in the first place.

“We come from a total functional house. It didn’t make sense for us to even be selling drugs,” Malice said. “We don’t have the proverbial drug selling story…we was just doing it because we wanted to have the latest fashion.”

Source: YouTube

OVO 40

Drake’s producer, who is referenced on “The Story of Adidon” when Push says: “OVO 40, hunched over like he 80, tick, tick, tick / How much time he got? That man is sick, sick, sick.”

Real name Noah Shebib, OVO 40 is an ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2005. Push’s lyrics are a reference to 40’s condition; the song also happened to drop a day before National Multiple Sclerosis day. When asked if he knew it was National Multiple Sclerosis day during his interview with The Breakfast Club, Push laughed before remarking “That’s ironic.”

Although plenty of critics and fans alike have declared Push the winner of this feud it is possible that Drake has another response in him. Until then, all we have are the two’s respective diss tracks — which you can listen to here and here — and a whole list of names that’s a reminder of how personal this feud quickly became.